Jock Taylor, Sidecar World Champion
Scottish Motorcycle Racer Killed in 1982 Finnish GP
John Robert Taylor, better known as "Jock", enjoyed a highly successful but tragically brief career in sidecar racing. He achieved World Championship and Isle of Man TT success before losing his live in a bizarre racing accident.
Taylor's Sidecar Racing Career
Taylor hailed from the village of Pencaitland in East Lothian, Scotland. His early sidecar experiences were as a passenger but he quickly decided he’d rather be in the driving seat. In 1977 he claimed the Scottish Sidecar Championship. Two years later he was crowned the British Sidecar Champion, a feat Taylor repeated the following year.
1980 also brought a far bigger prize. After winning four races out of seven Taylor and his passenger, Benga Johansson, claimed the Sidecar World Championship. It was to be the pinnacle of Taylor’s short career.
Taylor made his debut on the famous Isle of Man course in 1978, finishing second in his first race. In total he competed in 10 TT races, recording four wins, two seconds and a third. In 1982 he established a lap record which stood for a further seven years.
The 1982 World Championship season had not been going well for Taylor by the time of the Finnish Grand Prix on August 15th. The only results of note were two third places in Belgium and Sweden. On race day in Finland the Imatra track was extremely wet, giving the sidecar crews an unenviable task.
Taylor's Fatal Accident at Imatra
On lap four of the race Taylor was lying in third position. At the first corner his number three Yamaha outfit lost adhesion and left the circuit on the inside, striking a telegraph pole. While Johansson was thrown clear Taylor lay trapped in the outfit, which had inverted itself.
Rescue crews were quickly on the scene to free Taylor but, before they could, a Finnish outfit left the track at the same point and ploughed into the wreckage. The impact was devastating and left Taylor fatally injured. He was 28 years old.
Tributes and the Jock Taylor Memorial Trophy Races
Taylor is buried in his home village of Pencaitland. A memorial cairn was unveiled in 2006 at a ceremony attended by his widow, Kate. A memorial also stands in Beveridge Park, Kirkcaldy, next to the old motorcycle racing circuit in Fife, Scotland. The annual Jock Taylor Memorial Trophy Races are held at the Knockhill circuit, also in Fife. Taylor raced at the track many times during his career. One of Taylor’s sidecar outfits is on permanent display at the Donington Grand Prix Collection in Leicestershire, England.
Jock Taylor sidecar at Donington
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